Create a Global .gitignore

By  on  

The .gitignore file is cherished by developers because it can keep repositories clean after build files and OS-generated files (like .DS_Store) clutter the structure of your repository. What I find is that I'm constantly adding the same files and directories (like node_modules) to every repository and I find it tedious. I was hoping there was a way to globally ignore those files and directories ... and I've found it.

You can create your global .gitignore with this magic:

# Declare the global .gitignore
git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

# Create the .gitignore_global file
touch .gitignore_global

# Go into edit mode so you can add the unwanted file listing
vim .gitignore_global

The snippet above creates a .gitignore_global in your user directory which is respected throughout your user directory. Now you don't have to explicitly, repeatedly add the same files and directories to individual .gitignore files! Excellent!

This shouldn't be considered a great solution for collaborative repositories though -- someone else will inadvertently submit unwanted files and directories because the repo's own .gitignore doesn't contain the unwanted file listing. For your own purposes, however, a global .gitignore is aces!

Recent Features

  • By
    Send Text Messages with PHP

    Kids these days, I tell ya.  All they care about is the technology.  The video games.  The bottled water.  Oh, and the texting, always the texting.  Back in my day, all we had was...OK, I had all of these things too.  But I still don't get...

  • By
    Animated 3D Flipping Menu with CSS

    CSS animations aren't just for basic fades or sliding elements anymore -- CSS animations are capable of much more.  I've showed you how you can create an exploding logo (applied with JavaScript, but all animation is CSS), an animated Photo Stack, a sweet...

Incredible Demos

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!